Wilmington, NC News

Archive for March, 2009

Video

Body

Parents, students and members of Christ Community Church spent Saturday afternoon doing a good deed.

A campus gardening and cleanup day was held at Mary C. Williams Elementary School in Wilmington.

Because of budget cuts, there isn’t much funding to maintain the school grounds, so volunteers, including members from Christ Community Church, brought their gardening tools Saturday to help keep it beautiful.

“To make the campus look like people want to come here and bring their kids and let them try out the school and learn,” said Alden Burford, a Mary C. Williams student.

The campus clean up happens three times a year and is sponsored by the Williams PTA.

Story image

Story summary

Because of budget cuts, there isn’t much funding to maintain the school grounds, so volunteers, including members from Christ Community Church, brought their gardening tools Saturday to help keep Mary C. Williams Elementary School beautiful.

Story summary image

Associated poll

Video

Body

Parents, you may want to take a closer look at your kids cell phones. “Sexting” is sending nude, or partially nude, pictures via cell phones, and it’s a growing trend among teens.

Jesse Logan’s story had a very sad ending. She sent a nude picture to her boyfriend. The photo ended up being forwarded to her classmates. The Ohio teenager was harassed to the extent she was so miserable, she hung herself.

The typical sexting scenario involves a young couple who sends nude photos to each other as a special gift. But once they break up, those pictures can be used as leverage for revenge.

“These images are being consensually sent out the first time around, and then there’s no way to put the genie back into the bottle,” said DA Ben David.

What begins as a private gift can spiral into public mortification that spreads through the halls and beyond as the images can be posted on the internet for the whole world to see.

Humiliation is just the beginning. Teens may not realize the severity of their actions.

Sending nude pictures of a minor fits the legal description of distributing child pornography, which is a felony.

Even if the teen takes the picture of him or herself, it is considered manufacturing child porn, and everyone who the picture is forwarded to, can be charged with possessing child porn. They could also have to register as a sex offender.

A recent survey found that one in five teens “sext”. A few are getting caught; 18-year old Phillip Alpert of Orlando will be registered as a sex offender until he’s 43 after forwarding nude photos of his ex-girlfriend.

In Spotsylvania, Virginia two teenage boys are facing child pornography charges for cell phone pictures of five nude girls, including one elementary school aged girl.

So is sexting an issue locally?

Behavior specialist Hannah Griesbauer says not in New Hanover County Schools. “We don’t want to wait until it does come across our desk before we do something about it. So we want to make sure that we’re staying on top of the technology and we’re kind of staying ahead of the game which can sometimes be very difficult because technology moves at a fast pace.”

District Attorney Ben David says sexting is a growing issue that shouldn’t be ignored. “It happens in both New Hanover and Pender County, wherever there’s young people and cell phones and the internet which is to say everywhere.”

Story image

Story summary

The typical sexting scenario involves a young couple who sends nude photos to each other as a special gift. But once they break up, those pictures can be used as leverage for revenge.

Story summary image

Associated poll

Video

Body

In the past two weeks, there have been seven confirmed cases of rabies in New Hanover County.

Animal control officials say they haven’t seen that many since the late nineties, and as a result, hundreds of pet owners took advantage of a free rabies clinic Saturday.

The Tover’s were toward the end of the free rabies clinic line, which was about a half-mile long, stretching from Animal Control on Division Drive all the way to where it meets 23rd Street. “We’re here for rabies shots for Jaden and Lily.”

Residents said the wait was well worth it.

“Vaccination of your pet is the best protection, for you or your pet; it’s critical that you have that done,” said Jean McNeal of NHC Animal Control.

At the very least, standing in line was a free dog and cat show. There were Collies, Golden Retrievers, and itsy-bitsy Chihuahuas.

“I had no idea it was going to be lengthy, and we would be here waiting, but everything is moving pretty smoothly, I’m enjoying the dogs and stuff,” said Melvin Whitehead.

Officials said Saturday’s turnout reflects the community’s response to the number of rabies cases in the county, and with the state of the economy, free rabies vaccinations are definitely a plus.

New Hanover County Animal Control offers free clinics every month. The next rabies clinic is April 19th, from 10:00 – 3:00.

Story image

Story summary

In the past two weeks, there have been seven confirmed cases of rabies in New Hanover County.

Animal control officials say they haven’t seen that many since the late nineties, and as a result, hundreds of pet owners took advantage of a free rabies clinic Saturday.